Wah was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, but grew up in the interior (West Kootenay) of British Columbia.
Well known for his work on literary journals and small-press, Wah has been a contributing editor to Open Letter since its beginning, involved in the editing of West Coast Line, and with Frank Davey edited the world's first online literary magazine, SwiftCurrent.
Wah retired after 40 years of teaching and lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with his wife Pauline Butling.
He remains active writing and performing public readings of his poetry.
From 2006 to 2007, he served as the Writer-in-Residence at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia.